All about lessons outside school subjects

[xxmummy]

Personally, I would prefer my child to pursue these kind of passions on her own first if they can be self-taught. There are so much free information available on the web these days. Also with classroom lessons, need to spend time commuting there and back.


However, for interests that need teachers’ guidance like calligraphy, pottery etc, yes I would support signing up for lessons.

Cheers!

[Ikid]

hghdad:

hi all, want to hear opinions of other parents, what do you think of sending your child to outside lessons that are not quite common (e.g. photography lesson, cooking lesson) what are the restrictions that are stopping most of you


Thinking of sending the son for 1

If time permits and the child does not mind trying, go for it.
Many children are tied up with school work or enrichment courses or have no interest, hence, parents do not sign them up during the school terms.

[FantasyLandDreams]

Usually we will try to source for info online first and self teach if possible. If interest persists, then sign up for lessons perhaps if need further guidance.


But for cooking, I will never sign up (my personal opinion), as I feel this can always be learnt from those around, for example, grandmother, maid, aunt etc etc, and such courses are usually not cheap as well (around $50 from what I've seen). To me, cooking is something like a \" science experiment\" which can always be conducted at home as long as there are willing parties to stomach your failed products and clean up the mess (talking about my failed experiments)!

[Musings]

I like to recommend massive open online courses such as edx and coursera.


They are entirely free and of very good quality. My son is deeply interested in programming and has picked up programming from various edx courses.

[hghdad]

thank you all for your input!

Musings:

I like to recommend massive open online courses such as edx and coursera.

They are entirely free and of very good quality. My son is deeply interested in programming and has picked up programming from various edx courses.

And wow, how old is your son, Musings?

I know about them too but am afraid its too *cheem* to understand for the kids

[Musings]

Hi hghdad


My son is 10. At first I had the same reservations but since he was interested in programming and this was free so I just enrolled and let him try.

It turn out to be quite manageable, he has completed 2 courses so far and learned Scratch (MIT created programming language for kids) entirely through edX.

Programming in Scratch
https://www.edx.org/course/programming- ... x-cs002x-0

MyCS: Computer Science for Beginners
https://www.edx.org/course/mycs-compute ... ddx-cs001x

Both are suitable for primary school kids who are keen in this area.

I think the key is to find courses which suit their interest and does not require specialised knowledge as a prerequisite.

[MCC2 parent]

Hi Musings,


Can recommend which course in the coursera suitable for primary school children?

[ssliana]

I think paid classes, with inspiring and skilled educators, can be quite worth the time and money too though : ) I’ve always wished there was a sampler of classes children could take… Like an exposure course. 1 week ballet, 1 week drums, 1 week piano, 1 week art, with the option to continue a particular track after a set amount of time sigh

[zac's mum]

ssliana:

I think paid classes, with inspiring and skilled educators, can be quite worth the time and money too though : ) I've always wished there was a sampler of classes children could take.. Like an exposure course. 1 week ballet, 1 week drums, 1 week piano, 1 week art, with the option to continue a particular track after a set amount of time *sigh*

Many places offer trial lessons. Some are free, others are not. So there’s no reason not to go give it a try. Who knows, the child may end up liking it. If not, just take it as exposure.

I went for a free drum trial myself, and ended up learning it as my hobby now